Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said Beijing supports further United Nations action against North Korea but also wants to see renewed efforts to begin dialogue involving all sides.

On his way to participate in a tax reform event, Trump told reporters that military action against North Korea was "not a first choice, but we will see what happens", Xinhua news agency reported.

Trump has repeatedly criticized the five-year-old FTA for creating a $27 billion US trade deficit with South Korea last year.

The United States' most senior military officials yesterday briefed President Donald Trump on the military options available to him.

"We should not give in to emotions and push Pyongyang into a corner", Putin said in a news conference after meeting with Moon on the sidelines of a conference on economic development of Russia's Far East.

"We have chose to temporarily deploy the remaining launchers along with USA construction equipment and materials (.) to prepare for the heightened security situation in North Korea due to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats", the South Korean Defence Ministry said in a statement.

"The worldwide community must unite in applying the greatest possible pressure on North Korea", Abe said in a speech alongside Putin and South Korea's Moon Jae-in at an economic forum in Vladivostok.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an worldwide summit in China, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that further economic sanctions on the North are unlikely to deter its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Attention had thus been focused on whether interactions between the two leaders would lead to bilateral cooperation on North Korea in light of the serious threat to Japan's security.

Yet after the North's nuclear test this week, conservatives in South Korea have been criticizing Moon's call for talks.

According to a statement from South Korea's presidential office, Moon and Trump agreed to remove the limit on the payload of South Korean missiles in response to the North's nuclear test.

But neither side appears willing to budge.

Despite hundreds of local residents protesting against the government's decision to temporarily deploy four additional THAAD launchers in Seonju County, some 300 kilometers south of Seoul, the deployment went as scheduled.

A THAAD battery normally consists of six launchers, but only two have been operational so far.

The Russian leader said there are "many reasonable people in the current (US) administration" who are experienced and who have dealt with similar crises. The deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system has angered North Korea but also China and Russian Federation, which see the system's powerful radar as a threat to their own security. But on Thursday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi changed tact and indicated China would not rule out imposing fresh sanctions. However, Pyongyang says it needs to continue and develop the programs as a deterrent against hostility by the United States and its regional allies, including South Korea and Japan.

An unlimited warhead weight allowance would enable the South to strike North Korea with greater force in the event of a military conflict.